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Guide · Agent skill

How to use the Turborepo Caching Setup agent skill

Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data

The turborepo-caching skill is a reference guide that an AI agent loads when you ask it about Turborepo, a tool that speeds up builds in monorepos (single repositories holding many related apps and packages). Once installed, the agent can write turbo.json pipeline files, explain what gets cached, and help you share a cache across a team or in CI. This guide covers what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what to watch for.

Turborepo Caching Setupwshobson/agents · MIT

Quick start

  1. 1Download the ZIP. Download the turborepo-caching skill ZIP from this page and unzip it so SKILL.md sits in a turborepo-caching folder.
  2. 2Place the folder. Move it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into your project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project.
  3. 3Or upload in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities and upload the skill under Skills.
  4. 4Check your Turborepo setup. Confirm Node.js, npm and the turbo package are available in your monorepo root.
  5. 5Ask a natural request. Describe the task, such as setting up turbo.json or fixing cache misses, and let the agent apply the guidance.
  6. 6Review the output. Run the suggested commands such as turbo build --dry-run before relying on the configuration.

What the skill makes the agent do

Agent skills are folders of instructions that an agent reads when a task matches the skill's description. This one contains a SKILL.md file with patterns for setting up Turborepo: a sample workspace layout, a turbo.json configuration, package-specific pipelines, remote caching in CI, filtering builds to changed packages, and debugging cache misses.

The guidance centres on a few pipeline concepts: dependsOn (tasks that must finish first), cache (whether to cache outputs), outputs (files to cache), inputs (files that affect the cache key) and persistent (long-running tasks such as dev servers).

Install the skill from a ZIP download

Download the ZIP for this skill from this page and unzip it. The skill is a folder containing SKILL.md, so the unzipped folder should hold that file.

For a personal install available in all projects, unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/. To limit it to a single project, unzip it into that project's .claude/skills/ folder instead.

Alternatively, in the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the skill under Skills.

Prepare your Turborepo project

The skill assumes you have Node.js and npm (or another package manager) and Turborepo available. The source runs Turborepo through npx turbo, so a project that already has the turbo package in its devDependencies is the simplest starting point.

The root package.json pattern in the skill declares workspaces such as apps/* and packages/* and defines scripts like build and dev that call turbo.

  • Node.js and npm, or another package manager
  • Turborepo, run as npx turbo
  • Optional: a Vercel account or another remote cache provider for remote caching
  • Optional: TURBO_TOKEN and TURBO_TEAM credentials for remote caching
  • Optional: Express, only for the self-hosted cache demo

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need to name the skill. Describe the task in plain language and the agent will use the guidance when it matches. The skill description covers setting up Turborepo, optimizing build pipelines and implementing distributed caching.

Requests that fit well include asking the agent to set up a turbo.json for your apps and packages, to make CI builds reuse cached work, or to find out why a build is not hitting the cache. Specific requests usually produce more useful answers than general ones.

  • Set up turbo.json for my monorepo with apps/web and packages/ui and cache the build and lint tasks.
  • Configure remote caching so CI and my teammates share Turborepo artifacts.
  • Only build packages that changed since main in my GitHub Actions workflow.
  • My Turborepo build keeps missing the cache. Help me find out why.

Use the filtering and debugging templates

The filtering template shows how to scope a run. For example, a filter can build one package, a package plus its dependencies, a package plus its dependents, or only packages changed since origin/main. The debugging section lists commands for inspecting a run, such as a dry run, a task graph and a summary.

Ask the agent which filter fits your case. For a CI pull request, the source uses turbo build --filter='...[origin/main]'.

turbo build --filter='...[origin/main]' turbo build --dry-run turbo build --graph

Read the safety notes before using the self-hosted cache

The skill's self-hosted cache template is an Express server that stores artifacts in a local folder. The source describes it as a demo: it does not authenticate the dummy token, and the file itself warns to use only disposable artifacts on a trusted machine and not to expose the server.

For production, use a managed remote cache or a properly secured cache service. The skill uses the network for remote caching, and remote caching needs your credentials, so keep TURBO_TOKEN in CI secrets rather than committed files. The skill does not run scripts on its own; the commands it shows are for you or the agent to run in your project.

  • Do not expose the demo cache server beyond 127.0.0.1.
  • Keep TURBO_TOKEN in CI secrets, not in the repository.
  • Do not put secrets in pipeline env lists; the source advises using runtime environment variables instead.

What people use it for

  • Writing a turbo.json with build, test and lint pipelines for a new monorepo.
  • Scoping CI runs to changed packages with a filter such as ...[origin/main].
  • Setting up remote caching with TURBO_TOKEN and TURBO_TEAM in GitHub Actions.
  • Diagnosing cache misses using dry runs, verbose output and the task graph.
  • Adding package-specific turbo.json files that extend the root configuration.

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the turborepo caching agent skill?

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder for one project. You can also upload it in the Claude apps under Settings, then Capabilities, then Skills.

What do I need to use this skill?

You need Node.js and npm, or another package manager, plus Turborepo, which the source runs as npx turbo. Remote caching is optional and needs a Vercel account or another remote cache provider with TURBO_TOKEN and TURBO_TEAM credentials.

Is the turborepo caching skill free?

The skill is published under the MIT licence, according to this listing. Check the licence file in the source repository for the full terms.

Does this skill work if my project is not a monorepo?

Not really. The guidance is specific to Turborepo and monorepos, so projects that use neither will get little benefit from it.

Why is my Turborepo build missing the cache?

The skill includes a debugging section with commands such as turbo build --dry-run, turbo build --verbosity=2 and turbo build --summarize. Ask the agent to walk through your turbo.json inputs, outputs and env settings, since these affect the cache key.

Can I use the self-hosted cache template in production?

No. The source describes it as a demo with no real authentication, and it warns against exposing the server. Use a managed or properly secured remote cache for production.

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Our verdict

This skill suits developers setting up a new Turborepo monorepo, teams that want faster CI through a shared remote cache, and engineers chasing cache misses. It is a poor fit for projects that do not use Turborepo, and for production cache infrastructure, where you should use a managed or properly secured cache rather than the demo server.

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